Last Summer on State Street

A Novel

By: Toya Wolfe

Narrated by: Shayna Small

• PEN Open Book Award finalist
• Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year Award winner
• Stephen Curry Underrated Literati Book Club Pick

Named a Best Book of Summer by Good Housekeeping, Chicago Magazine, The St. Louis Post Dispatch, Chicago Tribune, Veranda, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Publishers Weekly, and more!

“[A] powerful novel.... Tragic, hopeful, brimming with love, Wolfe’s debut is a remarkable achievement.”—New York Times Book Review

For fans of Jacqueline Woodson and Brit Bennett, a striking coming-of-age debut about friendship, community, and resilience, set in the housing projects of Chicago during one life-changing summer.

Even when we lose it all, we find the strength to rebuild.

Felicia “Fe Fe” Stevens is living with her vigilantly loving mother and older teenaged brother, whom she adores, in building 4950 of Chicago’s Robert Taylor Homes. It’s the summer of 1999, and her high-rise is next in line to be torn down by the Chicago Housing Authority. She, with the devout Precious Brown and Stacia Buchanan, daughter of a Gangster Disciple Queen-Pin, form a tentative trio and, for a brief moment, carve out for themselves a simple life of Double Dutch and innocence. But when Fe Fe welcomes a mysterious new friend, Tonya, into their fold, the dynamics shift, upending the lives of all four girls.

As their beloved neighborhood falls down around them, so too do their friendships and the structures of the four girls’ families. Fe Fe must make the painful decision of whom she can trust and whom she must let go. Decades later, as she remembers that fateful summer—just before her home was demolished, her life uprooted, and community forever changed—Fe Fe tries to make sense of the grief and fraught bonds that still haunt her and attempts to reclaim the love that never left.

Profound, reverent, and uplifting, Last Summer on State Street explores the risk of connection against the backdrop of racist institutions, the restorative power of knowing and claiming one’s own past, and those defining relationships which form the heartbeat of our lives. Interweaving moments of reckoning and sustaining grace, debut author Toya Wolfe has crafted an era-defining story of finding a home—both in one’s history and in one’s self.

""Toya Wolfe is a storyteller of the highest order. Last Summer on State Street is a stunning debut.""—Rebecca Makkai, New York Times bestselling author of The Great Believers

A tender story about growing up amins very difficult surroundings

It’s a wonderful book. I loved how completely different all the girls were but still a group of friends

Engaging

Very real being from the Southside. Annoyed with the mispronunciation of DuSable, please fix that!

Yes, yes, and yes

This book resonated with me on so many facets. From my lived experience of growing up in the projects and seeing my neighborhood and friends taken away to me growing up being a school counselor and therapist seeing and taking care of students with the same or worse situations. Whewwww...this author reminds me alot of Jacqueline Woodson and Tiffany Jackson.

The way you could just see it while you're reading it. Wolfe gave us a first hand look in many children's upbringing and how they survive and save face daily. Neglectful parents, gangs, opportunities, racism, family beef, friendships, religions,and most of all "the village" that it takes to keep community. Wolfe weaved in some of Chicago's historical contexts (Robert Taylor Hones, Nat King Cole, Bakersfield) contexts throughout the book in a way that's not pushed, but like it's supposed to be there (because it is!). You could see how vibrate neighborhoods and communities turn to ghost towns, pushing them to less desirable places to turn those places into their own (gentrification). The friendships of FeFe, Precious, Stacia and Tonya are like many Black and Brown girls growing up. I loved how they bonded over double Dutch, it brought a bit of nostalgia throughout this read. They had all different family structures yet bonded while their home lives fell apart. The police raids on how they still view and treat Black boys, whewwww. I cried during that section, how in hours they changed her brother from a lil boy to a fragile gang member longing to bed a real child or a man that no one would touch and respect.

"Even when we lose it all, we find the strength to rebuild."

Toya Wolfe's debut book, only yearn to read her next one. If this is any inclination of what's to come, I'm hooked and she'll be added to my favorites. #Book8of2026 #Bookworm #Whatsnext

Should be required reading in US schools

An unforgettable story with characters who will live in my head and heart for the rest of my life. I keep erasing my sentences because everything is coming out as platitudes and cliches so I’ll just say PLEASE read this book. Everyone should read this book!

Heartbreaking truth beautifully told

Thank you, Ms. Toya for the gift of your writing, your voice and yiur ability to bring to life your deep knowledge of the people and the city.